The Living Legend
by pokemypocky
Summary: If an ocean liner were alive, what would it say?


_**(This is going to be one strange disclaimer)**_

_**I do not own any of the ocean liners used in this story, which was based on actual events.**_

_**...Oh! And I don't own the ice burg either!**_

**"The Living Legend"**

**o 1 o**

The sun is rising over my home. I am feeling impatient. It will be years before my journey begins. I look at myself. I am incomplete as yet, but the creatures are still building me. They look like tiny ants, climbing all over their ant hill. Over to my left, I see my older sister. She, too, is incomplete.

She looks at me with a smile. _"Worry not, sister. We will be finished very soon. The humans are helping us."_

_"What are humans?" _I ask.

My sister laughs. "_They are the little creatures that are climbing all over us," _she explains.

I sigh. _"You are so wise... I wish I had a younger sister to mentor."_

My sister smiles once again. _"Perhaps you will, one day."_

**o 2 o**

Much time passes and many things are changing. First, much of our home has been knocked away, probably to make room for my sister and me. We are very big, you see. My sister is fully dressed in her metal coat by this time. I am only half dressed on one side.

_"You look beautiful already, sister."_

_"Thank you... You shall be beautiful as well."_

_"Not as beautiful as you..."_ I sigh, wishing that I had a younger sister to look up to me and my beauty. As the humans pound the rivets into my side, I wince. _"Sister! It hurts!"_

My sister agrees, but simply says, _"Pain is quite often the price of beauty. Fear not. I am going through the same pain. It will be over soon and we will both look beautiful."_

**o 3 o**

Haley's Comet passes over our home. I look up at it's brightness with my sister. _"Make a wish," _she tells me.

I look up at the comet once again. _"I wish to be wise... I wish to be great and remembered... I wish to be like you, my sister."_ I look down at the ground. One of many men who has helped to bring my sister and myself into being is with his woman. My sister once told me that she is called his "wife." He looks at her and whispers words I cannot understand. Perhaps he is making a wish, too.

**o 4 o**

After much more time, I am finally complete. My keel underneath me is red and is painted right down the middle of me. My sides are black and my top is white. The humans are knocking away my support timber. As they do this, I look down at the water. It looks dark and scary. My sister is gone on her first trip out into this great water. Once again, I wish that I had a younger sister to keep me company for a while so that I could keep my mind off of being so frightened. I look in the direction of the sun, to see my rival floating by. Actually, I have to thank my rival. for if it wasn't for her existance, I would have never been born. You see, my owner's rival company created both my rival and her sister. We were created to catch up with them. My rival does not even look at me. She sails on, her face proud. At this moment, I hear a noise: a gun shot has been fired. I feel myself being pushed into the water, traveling very fast. As the humans cheer for me, I am proud, wishing that my sister were here to see me.

**o 5 o**

I am now in the water and I am feeling very happy. Soon, I shall be on my first voyage. However, I hear of terrible news from my passing rival.

_"You know what I heard? I heard that your sister ran into the H.M.S. Hawke."_

_"You lie!"_

My rival laughs. _"I speak the truth. A twelve foot gash is in her side. She will be returning to Belfast to be repaired."_

_"Belfast?... What is Belfast?"_

My rival sails on, leaving only this insult: _"Hah! You don't even know the name of your own home!"_

**o 6 o**

My sister returns. I happily give up my place at the docks for her to be repaired. _"How do you feel?"_ I ask.

_"Oh, don't worry about me. Just be prepared for your own voyage."_

I just had to ask. _"How does it feel to be out on the water?"_

_"Wonderful... I cannot wait for you to feel it."_

**o 7 o**

Finally, my time has come. Humans pile in me like ants to an ant farm. I look at my sister with a nervous smile. _"How do I look?"_

_"Beautiful..." _She sniffled.

_"Are you crying, sister?"_ I ask.

_"Yes, my dear. I am. But don't worry about me. Enjoy your first time out."_ She wears a smile, as she always does.

**o 8 o**

A few days have passed. It is now night. I am proudly making my way through the mighty waters. I am extremely nervous. I am carrying a large amount of humans with me. My sister was right. The water is a beautiful thing. I am distracted by the water... until my side starts to hurt. I look over to see a large, cold creature, much larger than myself. It looks angry.

_"What are you doing?"_ I ask.

The creature glares at me. "_I am the greatest in this sea! You are nothing compare to me! And yet, I have heard that you are the largest of your kind. This title should be left to only me!_

Our breif encounter ends and I continue to sail on. I begin to feel very strange before I realize that when I ran into that creature, it left several gashes in my side. But it does not matter. If my sister can survive, then so can I!

However, I soon find that this is not so. I hear the humans running around and screaming. I feel my front dipping down further and further into the water. Then, I feel a sharp pain near my end, as though I am being ripped in half. With that, I dive under the water, face first. _"Sister! I need you!"_

But alas, I am all alone in this painful experiance...

**o 9 o**

Seventy-three years have passed since then. The sun never came up for me the next morning. I see nothing bit black. I am in so much pain. I stopped hearing the humans screaming a long time ago. Oh, how I miss my sister! I have not seen any trace of light in years. I feel nothing but extreme cold and dampness around me. Only the tides keep me company. Finally, the tides tell me that a light from above is coming. _"BRING THE LIGHT TO ME!"_ I cry. After seventy-three long years, the light comes upon me. In the distance, I can almost hear the faint laughter of humans once again. I look at myself. I am... ugly! What has happened to me!? The beauty that I once knew is now gone and... there are things growing on me! I look around and discover why there is so much cold and dampness around me. I am... UNDER WATER! I cannot believe it! I have sunk! I am a shipwreck! _"Oh, sister! Wherever you are, please forgive me!"_

**o 10 o**

More than twenty years pass since I first saw my ugliness. I was once beautiful and happy. Now, I am ugly and bitter. When I speak with the tides, it makes me feel a little better.

_"We saw your sister!"_ they say.

_"My older sister!? Is she down here in the cold with me!?"_

_"No. Another ship had been created after you. You are the older sister this time."_

My wish has come true. I have a younger sister! I look down at the six stories of hard ground that I am imbedded in. _"I must go and see her!"_ With all my might, I push myself.

The tides agree to help me. They rush for my back half, which was severed off during my sinking.

_"Leave my bottom half here!" _I exclaim. _"We must leave simething for visitors to see!"_

The tides push only my front. For the first time in ninety-five years, I am moving! I finally break away from the hard ground, pushing on towards my younger sister.

**o 11 o**

As I tridge on my way, an image comes into view. It looks like my younger sister, but it is not. Instead, it lies on it's side. It looks at me angrily.

I am shocked. _"Rival! How did you get here!?"_

My rival scoffs. _"The stupid humans wouldn't listen to the warnings they were getting! It was because of this that a torpedo hit me!... I went down in about twenty minutes."_

_"Tell me... What ever happened to my older sister? Was she well before you came down here?"_

_"She was devistated after you were lost. However, she lived on and helped many more of our kind... She also told me to tell you, if I ever came down here, that she loves you no matter what."_ She sighs. _"I must apologies for the way I always treated you... After you came here, your older sister looked to me for comfort. And so, I was there for her. Despite what I have said and done in the past, I never wanted any harm to come to you."_ She looks at our surroundings. _"Living down here is a fate worse than dying down here!"_

I cry. _"I understand your pain... But I must find my younger sister now."_

_"Then go. Accept my apology and find your sister."_

With that, I continue on my way, leaving my rival. Eventually, she would die. However, she would go in peace. "_Good-bye, beloved rival."_

**o 12 o**

Finally, she comes into view: my younger sister. She appears to be just as ugly as I am. However, I have been down here longer, so I am the ugliest of the two. Still, I look upon her with such joy. _"Younger sister?"_

She looks at me in tears. _"Oh, look away, my great older sister! I am nothing compared to you!"_

_"Don't say that!... Tell me what happened. How did you come to be down here?"_

_"I was a wonderful thing that housed the sick or in pain. I carried them across the ocean, until the day a mine exploded under me. I felt so ashamed of myself after that. I was supposed to be bigger and better than you... And now, look at me."_

_"I am the one who should be ashamed... Both you and my rival were taken by surprise. I was not paying any attention... I ran into a jealous creature and was sent to this wretched place. However, I have come here to be with you, just as my older sister was there for me."_

_"What was she like?"_

For the first time in ninety-five years, I smile, just as my older sister always did. "_She was very wise. And we were both... We were all given great names. May our names ring the memory bells of the human race. My older sister, Olympic! My rival, Lisutania! My younger sister, Britannic! And myself... Titanic!"_

**The End**

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for reading this! I wrote this about a year ago and it's one of my favorites. I have done a lot of reasurch on Titanic and several other ocean liners in the world, so this story is very close to being historically accurate. I just want to make a few things straight about this story. In part three, there is a breif cameo apperance by Thomas Andrews and his wife in the workyard when Haley's Comet passes by. That really took place (I saw it in a documentary). Thomas Andrews was Titanic's new cheif's designer after Alexander Carlisle resigned. Britannic was a hospital ship, not a luxury liner. And Olympic never sank. It served for about 24 years before it was finally considered to be scrap. I admit that I might be a little off on a few details, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!


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